The present invention relates to a baling machine for forming cylindrical bales of crop.
Machines, towed by a tractor, for forming large cylindrical bales of hay (so called "round balers") are well-known. As the machine advances, the crop is removed from a windrow by a pickup mechanism and delivered rearwardly to a baling chamber where it is rolled into a bale.
There are basically two forms of such machines, namely those with a fixed volume baling chamber defined by driven fixed-position rolls and those with a baling chamber defined by runs of driven belts which move outwardly to enlarge the chamber to accommodate the bale as it grows in size. In both forms, the hay is caused by the driven movement of the rolls or belts to roll round upon itself into a core and the core rotates about its horizontal axis and finally a completed bale is formed, the chamber being fed throughout with hay. The completed bale is tied with twine to maintain its shape and is discharged through a gate formed by a rear portion of the machine.
Various proposals have been made to employ net or foil as a wrapping material instead of twine for balers with a fixed volume baling chamber. A roll of the wrapping material is located at the front or top of the machine and the material is passed through the nip of a pair of feed rolls and then between neighboring fixed-position baling chamber rolls into the baling chamber where it is trapped between the outer surface of the bale and the baling chamber rolls so that it is carried round with the rotating bale and hence wraps round the bale. One such proposal is described in GB-A-2 124 975.
However, in the case of balers with a variable volume baling chamber it is not possible to feed the net or foil between the belts forming the chamber, and the present invention enables bales produced in such a chamber to be wrapped with these materials.